skimpole
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Posts posted by skimpole
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1. Vampyr Carl Theodor Dreyer Germany
2. I Was Born, But... Yasujiro Ozu, Japan
3. Boudu Saved From Drowning Jean Renoir, France
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Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman are much better than Driving Miss Daisy.
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Johnny Depp is clearly the best thing in the first Pirates of the Caribbean, as well as the same year's Once Upon a Time in Mexico.
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I was very impressed with Helen Mirren's performance in The Queen, though not with the movie itself. Peter Morgan, like in The Last King of Scotland and Frost/Nixon specializes in bogus moral dilemmas, in this case the public relations problem caused by the media frenzy over Diana Spencer's sudden death. I haven't seen the movie in a decade, and it's possible than on reseeing it, I would think that Penelope Cruz was actually the best actress of 2006 for Volver.
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Catherine Zeta-Jones was the best supporting actress in the zeroes, and she could sing, dance and show the right attitude for Chicago. But the movie itself is sloppily directed, while the satire is, in Jonathan Rosenbaum's words "toothless, obvious, and insufferably glib."
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1918 The Outlaw and His Wife
1928 The Passion of Joan of Arc
1938 Grand Illusion
1948 Rope
1958 Vertigo
1968 Yellow Submarine
1978 Days of Heaven
1988 A Fish Called Wanda
1998 Saving Private Ryan
2008 Ponyo
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A striking six movies for the first week of 2018. Let's start with the last two movies of 2017. By most standards Olympus Has Fallen is an appalling film, cruelly violent, idiotically implausible, using torture as a joke, with an uncharismatic leading man, little humor, and cheap sentiment as a substitute for thought. However, it's actually kind of a riot that it has, as a major plot point, the South Korean Security services so easily infiltrated by the villains. Considering that in the seventies they had more informers per capita than the Stasi, they must have been infuriated. And this is another movie where the villains actually use the United States' own overwhelming might against them. Moving on to the better of the two long delayed sequels I saw this week, The Last Jedi actually works fairly well on its own terms. It benefits from it not being clear for once which of the major characters will survive, while also maintaining the increasing desperation of the heroes throughout the movie.
Alexander Hamilton is a dull, somewhat preposterous movie, with George Arliss playing Alexander Hamilton while being 25-30 years older than the actual historical figure. It certainly doesn't really give any particular reason why we should support Hamilton's plans, except that he's the hero. And Arliss more resembles the wily Disraeli than he does Hamilton. Never Give a Sucker an Even Break is, if not a perfect comedy, is certainly a strange one, almost endearingly so. Passive aggressive conversations, an insane sequence of jumping out of a plane and landing on a mountain, and a wild car chase at the end, it certainly offers something.
Smilin' Through depends on what you think of Norma Shearer and Fredric March, and my view is that they're OK, but not especially interesting. If people are surprised that Henry Hathaway made a movie as strange and endearing as Peter Ibbetson, well Smilin' Through takes some supernatural elements and makes something much more conventional. Blade Runner 2049 is an unnecessary sequel, since the Director's cut clearly implied that the two main characters were doomed. Denis Villeneuve has to find some way to recapture the stunning misc-en-scene of the original and the result varies from "Unimaginatively Similar" to "Nice Try." The screenplay also lacks the occasional spice and vigor of the original. The movie advances thirty years into the future, without really developing or advancing any of the themes of the original movie. Also, Villeneuve should learn that Kubrick, Tarkovsky and Antonioni had events take place in real time for a reason, not because they mistook portentousness for gravitas.
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1. M, Fritz Lang, Germany
2. La Chienne, Jean Renoir, France
3. Le Million, Rene Clair, France
4. Enthusiasm, Dziga Vertov, USSR
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Bridge of Spies is a rather obvious Spielberg parable about basic criminal trial procedures, but Mark Rylance is quite good in it.
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Meryl Streep's performance in Julie & Julia is much better than the movie itself.
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The Dark Knight is a portentous movie, with most of the cast going about their preordained roles unable to provide any particular spark or imagination. But Heath Ledger's Joker really is something, providing genuine and spontaneous menace that is even more striking than the comic book where, except for the fifties and much of the sixties, he was always a ruthless mass murderer.
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Bill Murray single-handedly makes Ghostbusters appear much wittier and cleverer than it actually is.
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East of Eden is hardly a bad movie. But it's not as great a movie as James Dean's performance in it.
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I saw five movies this week. I have distinct memories of seeing a preview of Xanadu on July 3, 1980. And now I've actually seen it. It's hard to deny Dave Kehr's comment that "it's the perfect crystallization of a 13-year-old girl's taste," with a climax in a roller disco coming out a year after Americans had become sick of both. At least Gene Kelly dances (all too briefly) and Olivia Newton-John can sing, adequately enough. But poor Michael Bell is given nothing to do by a weak script and fatuous direction. OJ: Made in America is the oscar winning documentary that gave ESPN new respect. You might wonder if he deserves three hours more than Max Ophuls gave to the Nazi occupation of France. The first two episodes (out of five) are the best, before the murder. As it goes on, one notes certain questions. Brown's sister and Goldman's father are prominent witnesses, none of Simpson's relatives appear. One wouldn't learn that there have been major scandals with the LAPD and race after the Simpson trial, and for that matter with forensics. There's something disingenuous about Marcia Clark at one point bewailing the injustice of colleague Christopher Darden being viewed as an uncle tom, and then elsewhere blaming him (who declined to be interviewed) for a prosecutorial gambit that went wrong. It's also striking that the movie doesn't provide a larger history of domestic violence, or sport and celebrity narcissism. One might also ask why victims of police violence don't get to use civil suits like the Brown/Goldman families. One might well ask. The movie doesn't.
The Disaster Artist is, of course, about Tommy Wiseau, the remarkably unself aware make of The Room, who despite telling obvious lies about his age and his hometown, is somehow independently wealthy enough to make what appears to be a stunningly incompetent movie. The movie itself and James Franco are moderately amusing in relating this strange tale. Perceval le Gallois is clearly the movie of the week, a legendary tale retold on a series of almost strange sets, done with Eric Rohmer's ineffable style. To quote Leah Anderst: "In Perceval, Rohmer creates sets and instructs his actors to perform in ways that mimic the imagery found in medieval illuminated manuscripts. The actors, especially the members of the chorus who narrate and comment upon the action, often hold their hands upright and open, much as figures are portrayed in medieval artwork. The film’s few artificial trees that signal this or that forest are each composed of four large rounded leaves, again appearing more like an illustration than an actual tree. The space where the episodic narrative unfolds is a tightly bounded, circular area with a single set created for outdoor scenes and a single interior each doing double or triple duty as various castles and woods where Perceval follows his adventures." Finally The Witch has an effective score, an ominous style, and some taste. On the other hand it doesn't really have anything to say about the subject. It plays with Christian themes of despair and guilt, but shows little empathy or insight. As Will Leitch comments about the patriarch: "Sure, he’s got some outdated views—he’s 500 years old— but there’s still a witch trying to kill his family, cut the guy a break."
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22 hours ago, LawrenceA said:
- The Blue Angel, Fritz Lang, Germany
Actually directed by Josef von Sternberg
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1. L'Age D'Or Luis Bunuel, France
2. People on Sunday Robert Siodmak, Edward G. Ulmer, Germany
3. Salt for Svanetia Mikhail Kalatazov, USSR
4. That Night's Wife Yasujiro Ozu, Japan
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And finally, the one actor to get twelve nominations: Robert De Niro WINNER 1976, 1980; Nominee 1978, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1995, Supporting 1973, 1974, 1987, 1990
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Well there aren't that many movies about the topic (I can think of five), and I think most people prefer A Night to Remember.
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Five movies this week. The Bishop's Wife, while clearly not as good as its fellow Christmas movies of 1946 and 1947 It's a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street, is a perfectly charming film, which no doubts benefits from having the perfectly charming Cary Grant as the lead. Real Life is the first of Albert Brooks' films about monstrous narcissists (played by Brooks). This works better than Modern Romance, when it was not clear what Brooks' love interest saw in him in the first place. Brooks sort of playing himself in a vainglorious attempt to remake "An American Family" and this attempt at reality television twenty years before such shows became endemic. Certainly the ending is very funny. Three Songs About Lenin, at least in the format I saw it in, does not give too much attention to Stalin (a shot of him at Lenin's funeral, a poster alongside Lenin's, a couple of shots of him watching a parade.) It's not as innovative as his previous movies, or earlier Soviet movies five years earlier. It certainly stresses material achievement over liberation. On the other hand, it is still an interesting documentary.
The other two movies are two of Oscar's less defensible choices. Doctor Dolittle apparently won its startling large number of nominations thanks to an unbelievable lobbying effort. It certainly seems to have put more thought into it than in the movie. Rex Harrison, despite nearly being fired, isn't the problem. If he doesn't have the qualities I only vaguely remember from the original books, he's more charming than Anthony Newley or Samantha Eggar. The real problem is that the movie doesn't have much of a plot. It meanders along, and the people involved didn't know how to make talking animals interesting. Peyton Place got a ridiculous five acting nominations as a reward for its financial success. I can understand why it got two supporting actress nominations; if you're not going to nomination foreign language films the choices are pretty grim. But two supporting actor nominations, including one for Russ Tamblyn's eminently forgettable love interest? In the same year as 12 Angry Men and Paths of Glory? As for the movie itself it's self-serving, prurient and smug. If you want to see Lana Turner act, watch Imitation of Life.
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Indiewire has its critics poll, and although the full lists don't seem to be available here's the top 10 films:
“Get Out” (713 points)
“Lady Bird” (673 points)
“Dunkirk” (549 points)
“Phantom Thread” (368 points)
“The Florida Project” (348 points)
“The Shape of Water” (324 points)
“Call Me By Your Name” (312 points)
“Personal Shopper” (296 points)
“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” (245 points)
“The Post” (140 points)
You can see more here: http://www.indiewire.com/2017/12/best-movies-2017-critics-films-performances-get-out-phantom-thread-lady-bird-1201909032/
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I saw four movies last week. Face Places was the keeper, as Agnes Varda, 89 years and with failing eye sight, travels across France with a photographer young enough to be her grandson who makes murals out of giant blown-up photographs. It's quirky, fascinating, clever, with a real sense of place. Johnny Eager is surprisingly competent with Robert Taylor as the rogue ne'er do well who realizes he has to change for the better. One sees Lana Turner's star power, even though for much of the movie she's played for a sucker. Van Helfin won an oscar as Eager's drunken conscience. It's not a bad performance, though I wouldn't have nominated it.
Alexander's Ragtime Band features the music of Irving Berlin and a less than inspired love story. Aside from the problem that Tyrone Power is more the great name of a movie actor, rather than the name of a great movie actor, there's also the problem that the songs don't cohere very well with the plot. Actually they don't cohere at all. The characters play musicians who play Irving Berlin songs while living their not very interesting lives. The central romantic relationship is not only very involving, but often involves a lot of awkward happenstance as characters get married, get divorced, while not keeping other characters properly informed of matters. The Death of Louis XIV could be described as a sequel to The Rise of Power of Louis XIV. It's an interesting movie, even if it basically watching Jean-Pierre Leaud spend 110 minutes dying in his room. The last line, one of quite undeserved complaceny, is a nice touch.
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And now for those actors who got ten nominations:
Catherine Deneuve WINNER 1970 SUPPORTING 2004; Nominee 1964, 1965, 1967, 1967, 1980, 2008, Supporting 1999, 2000
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And now for those actors who got nine nominations:
James Stewart WINNER 1946, 1958 SUPPORTING 1948; Nominee 1939, 1940, 1955, 1959, 1965, Supporting 1936
Katharine Hepburn WINNER 1938, 1940: Nominee 1932-1933, 1935, 1937, 1938, 1942, 1955, 1962
Ingrid Bergman WINNER 1946, 1954; Nominee 1943, 1945, 1950, 1952, 1956, 1978, Supporting 1976
Juliette Binoche WINNER 2010; Nominee 1988, 1991, 1993, 2005, 2007, 2014, Supporting 1986, 1996 -
And now for those actors who got eight nominations:
Liv Ullmann WINNER 1966, 1968, 1978: Nominee 1969, 1972, 1974, 1976, Supporting 1973
LEAST & MOST FAVORITE of the week...
in General Discussions
Posted
This week I saw five movies Broken Arrow is a signpost in the history of Hollywood self-regard. Earlier movies such as Drums Along the Mohawk, They Died with Their Boots On and Fort Apache already showed Hollywood\'s bad conscience about Indians. The Run of the Arrow would do a better job of actually showing Indians. Seeing Jeff Chandler get an oscar nomination as a Jewish actor taking a WASP name to play an Apache is more interesting than the actual movie, in which James Stewart is the best actor anyway. The Last Angry Man saw Paul Muni get an oscar nomination as a good doctor whose integrity ultimately shames the TV people who want to make a special around him. There are worst Muni performances, there were much better performances from 1959, and I suspect it was the black and white that made the Academy think it was a deeper movie than was actually the case.
The Brothers Karamazov is in a class of its own, a class of how not to adapt a great novel. One can understand why Hollywood thought that it would be best to centre its adaptation around the Russian born actor who had just won an oscar a few months earlier. But without the other brothers Yul Brynner as Dimitri and Lee J. Cobb as the patriarch is just a tawdry melodrama with an unlikely twist at the end. Without the Legend of the Grand Inquisitor or Father Zossima's pleas or the nightmare about the devil, it's just not an adaptation.
Calendar is an early Atom Egoyan movie, in this case about a man who is making a calendar of newly independent Armenia's historic churches. We see him actually taking the photos, while trying to chat with the interpreter he has a crush on, who is interpreting for the tour guide who will probably win her. The film is also interweaven with the protagonist back in Canada, inviting a young woman to dinner, and then having her leave the dinner table to have a telephone call. Interesting. The Bad Batch is a sort of apocalyptic genre film, taking place in the Mexican desert, with cameos by Jim Carrey and Keanu Reeves, and a plot about resorting to cannibalism. Critics were not overly impressed with it, though I can think of worse things than having El Topo reshot by a woman.